Homecoming
by PUPPYSPANK
Summary: The long way home is always the hardest. It's the last time he meets Caesar Zeppeli and this time he's determined to never leave him again.


The first time he meets Caesar Zeppeli he decides that he's a beautiful, gorgeous specimen of a man and that he absolutely hates him. He's pompous and stuck up, a womanizer and a playboy, and while he's gifted with Hamon (and the most fantastic piercing blue eyes he's ever seen) Joseph is still sure that he hates him. He'll never respect a guy like that, and they'll never get along.

But first time he kisses Caesar Zeppeli it's like magic.

They've been sharing a single futon on a concrete floor ("This is training and not a vacation" Lisa Lisa had said) since they arrived on Air Supplena and the closeness every night has allowed them to bond. Sleeping together naked becomes part of their routine: After hours of training, and just barely managing the energy to shower in frigid water neither of them have the strength to complain about sharing a bed anymore.

Some nights, Joseph finds himself awake in the middle of the night, restless with worries about the future. The wedding rings are an uncomfortable weight on his mind and with such a limited time frame, they're quite a pressing matter. At first Caesar pretends not notice these fits of anxiety – Joseph is pretending to be strong and he respects that – but gradually he begins to feel that that burden is too much for one person to bare alone.

It starts with "cuddling". Caesar wakes to Joseph's heavy breathing and presses his chest against his partners sweaty back, squeezing nervous hands on the blades of his shoulders. He stays there until he hears Joseph relax, sometimes until he hears him fall back asleep. After a while, he stops retreating back to his side of the mattress.

Then Joseph starts draping himself over Caesar every night and Caesar doesn't complain because the night terrors and the anxiety cease and the other man sleeps soundly through the night. It's also cold and, by Caesar's own insistence, it's better to share body heat anyhow. This intimacy develops into other things: Playful smacks during training, fleeting gazes over dinner, and hands grazing for seemingly no reason at all. Neither of them is surprised when Joseph suddenly plants a kiss on Caesar's sleepy lips one night, nor when Caesar voraciously returns it.

Joseph Joestar wonders if it's possible to fall in love with someone you've only known for a few weeks, but decides not to question it.

* * *

Love, he learns, can be a quick and fleeting thing. When he realizes that Caesar has died, the weight of the truth is so heavy that he wishes he could be crushed under that crucifix shaped rock too.

He doesn't even get to bury Caesar properly. There isn't much left to bury in the first place and even if there was, too much time had passed for any of it to be place in the ground. After everything that had transpired, the only one who had a proper funeral was him: The one who didn't even die.

He does his best to maintain a happy face. His grandmother, his friends, his mother are all happy to have him back, after all it's a miracle that he's returned alive. Inside however, he's solemn, broken. How would Caesar have greeted him upon his miraculous return to America? Would he have laughed? Cried? The pain of never knowing is almost unbearable.

So he has his own plot re-purposed. The foundation pays the cost of having the marker re-carved and Joseph himself ensures that it stays decorated with every type of flower he can possibly have cut.

Every year he visits the site like it was all a bad dream, wishing that this time it would be Caesar miraculously returning alive.

* * *

After all these years had passed he never though the curse of the stone mask would come back to haunt him once again. Holly is ill and the vampire his grandfather defeated a hundred years ago is to blame. They'd travelled all of this time and such a long way to be standing beneath the starlight in the barren desert.

The fire roars and casts shadows over all of their faces. Polnareff laughs loudly while he sips Egyptian beer, Avdol chiding him quietly with a small smirk spread across his lips. His grandson and Kakyoin too are laughing, albeit quietly, the two of them sharing a private joke.

Nearly an entire minute passes before he realizes he's been staring at them across the fire pit. The way Kakyoin's face lights up when Jotaro pulls down the brim of his hat to hide his smile a dynamic that's all too familiar. If he lets his eyes go hazy for moment Joseph can almost seem himself and a certain someone sitting in their places.

* * *

As a group they decide to split up. Dio can sense the Joestars and they can sense him, so it's decided that it's best if Joseph and his grandson go separate ways. Kakyoin will go with Joseph, and Polnareff with Jotaro; the closeness of the enemy dictating that there is little time to say goodbye.

Joseph watches as Jotaro briefly pulls Kakyoin to the side. There's more emotion on his grandsons face now than he's seen otherwise this entire trip. He pretends not to notice when Jotaro briefly embraces Kakyoin in a manner that is clearly much more than mere friendship and scorns the guilt he feels for wishing he could have had a final moment like that.

* * *

Kakyoin dies and Joseph is immediately consumed with anguish. It rings deep inside him, fierce and repeating, a slow gradual burn that chars the inside of his chest. He has failed, utmost and entirely and the weight of that failure crushes him. If only he'd been faster, if only he'd stopped the boy from challenging Dio on his own. It should have been him, old, ripe with experience, to challenge that great evil. He was the one with Hamon, the great power of the sun that could cut the darkness of the night and rid them of the vampire. If only he'd been given the opportunity to use it, to attack from behind while Dio had been distracted...

...He could have protected them then. His companions, his daughter, his grandson.

And his grandsons first friend, his only friend (more than just friends, so much more). He could have protected him too. His broken body lies silently, almost serenely against the remains of the water tower, both he and it torn nearly in two. Joseph stares at the wreckage and laments that he had been just a young man, a mere schoolboy.

He relieves a pain he hadn't felt for many many years.  
Another dead companion. Another dead friend.

* * *

He tries desperately to warn Jotaro. So desperately.

But the knives pierce his throat and immediately he's choking back blood, struggling to breathe, struggling to stay on his feet. He needs Jotaro to know the secret to Dio's stand or at the very least to know to escape. He needs to stay as far away as possible, because defeating Dio at this point is damn near hopeless and Joseph doesn't want to lose anybody else. Jotaro is the only person he can try to protect now, the only person he can save. He knows he's dying, he knows he's lost this fight.

He silently screams as he gazes into Jotaro's flabbergasted face. The world becomes colourless, mind filled with the regret that there's nothing more he can do. Jotaro will have to face this enemy on his own, and if he lives he'll have to face the pain of a world without Kakyoin alone too. He wishes that there had been away around this fate, that somehow Jotaro wouldn't have to be surrounded by the same death and suffering that plagued all who bore the Joestar name, but it's far too late for hopes, dreams and wishes anymore.

In his final moments he hopes he wont be meeting Jotaro wherever he's going.

* * *

When he opens his eyes again he's somewhere unfamiliar. It's warm, light, and the entire place is shrouded in an ethereal glow. He wonders briefly if he's standing in the middle of a sunrise before he realizes the entire place is pure and white, devoid of all else.

"...jo"

He hears someone calling to him off in the distance. In the middle of all of this whiteness there's somebody else looking for him. He wonders if maybe it's God, arriving to collect him. This must be death, and it must be time to move on. There's nothing else left for him to do anymore, and he makes his peace with the mortal world. Turning, he starts off in the direction of the voice which continues to call for him in a soothing yet familiar tone.

"..Jojo.."

Caesar beams at him, a halo of light surrounding his young face. His hair blows languidly in the omniscient breeze, free from the headband he no longer wears. Joseph can't believe his eyes. He can't believe this is real. It's really him.

"It's really you."

At first their embrace is gentle. Joseph wraps his weary arms around Caesar's lithe but toned body and the corners of his lips turn upwards as he presses the gentlest of kisses to those faint pink markings he'd missed so much. Caesar reciprocates in turn, his arms pressed against Josephs chest, palms gripping with just the right amount of pressure into familiar shoulders as he tilts his head upwards and to the side. It's their first kiss in over 50 years. The warmth from Caesar's soft, gently pursed lips envelope Joseph's invitingly as hands gently grasp his face and pull him into the kiss. A tongue darts out and requests entry into Caesar's mouth; he allows it and the faint familiar taste of black tea to enter inside. They both moan softly, years of waiting, of longing, of missing each other melting away as they allow themselves to be consumed in their kiss. Caesars hands migrate to the back on Josephs head, gripping the hair there as if he were afraid to let go.

Everything becomes more fervent. Joseph holds Caesar so tightly that for a moment he wonders if the other man might suffocate in his hold. The grip in his hair becomes needy and desperate as Caesar's tongue invades his mouth tasting every inch of him as it were a source of life. Decades of pent up frustration, desperation, of "I miss you's" and "I need you's" spill out between them. When Joseph finally, breathlessly, pulls away his Gray hair is a fierce tangle of knots to match the one is his stomach. There are hot fresh tears on Caesar's young, beautiful face.

"You shouldn't be here", Caesar struggles to say, as if saying it is draining that last of his energy

"It's too soon, you're not supposed to be here yet".

"I missed you" is the only reply he can give back, his own eyes stinging. "I'm here now"

"No no..." Caesar speaks in a near whisper as he cups the side of Josephs aged face. "You have to go back... you're going to go back"

Joseph doesn't understand what this means. He's here now, they've finally be re-united. Can't they be together this time? Caesar lets go of his face and steps away, his eyes are shut tight to keep back the fresh well of tears beading at their corners and an "I'll wait for you... until next time" passes over his lips. Joseph wants to scream, to reach out to him, but he's being pulled backwards away from the light.

He blinks, it was only for a second, and Caesar is gone. He's travelling backwards descending into the darkness alone and afraid.

When he wakes up again he's in an ambulance and Jotaro is looking over him like a lost puppy. He thinks that if he hadn't just had the more jarring near death experience ever, he might have found that expression cute.

* * *

The funeral is the only time he ever sees Jotaro cry.

Many people are present, standing silently dressed in black outside Noriaki's home. A fiery haired woman weeps softly just inside the compound as she clings to a single black and white framed photo decorated with ribbon. She's comforted by a dark haired man while other family members either join her mourning or gossip amongst themselves.

It had been decided that they couldn't tell his parents the truth about what had happened in Egypt. It was to risky and the likelihood of them understanding (or better yet believing) is slim to none. A story is fabricated, believable, but vague and while the young mans family grieve the loss of the son they feel they barely knew, they welcome his travelling companions into their home to join them.

"Jotaro" he says solemnly, the two of them alone briefly "You'll be OK. You'll recover."

He barely dodges the fist that comes for his face, internally relived that it's Jotaro's and not Star Platinum's.

"What would you know!" Jotaro all but spits in his face. "How the hell would you know anything!" His balled up fist is uncurled, the digits move to pull the brim of his hat down shielding his eyes. Joseph is left with his jaw agape as Jotaro heel-turns and storms away.

He had figured he should comfort his only grandson but this result somehow isn't what he'd expected at all. Soundlessly he realizes he's crying, knowing Jotaro's pain and anger all to well. Reaching up to rub at his eyes, he wonders if the tears are for Jotaro or just himself.

* * *

His arrival at Morioh is a treacherous one, but worth the while when he gets to see what a fine young man his long lost son has grown into. Josuke is well mannered, well dressed and so youthfully honest, honourable and kind. Joseph thinks to himself that he's glad he's had a part, even a minor one, in creating such a beautiful person.

When he see's the band of friends the boy has created to protect his home, he cant help but swell up with pride. He hopes that they'll stay safe, that they'll look out for each other and be okay, but he also worries that the worst is inevitable. After all, the Joestar family is cursed. They're all doomed to lose the ones they love the most eventually.

So when he see's how close Josuke and Okuyasu are, how their pinkies snake together for the briefest moment when they think no one is watching, it makes his heart clench with worry and fills him with memories of the past. The night he see's them return to Josuke's house – together – he's consumed by deja vu.

In his old age he's pleasantly reminded of nights spent carefully sneaking around with Caesar to avoid the gazes of Loggins, Messina and Lisa Lisa.

* * *

When it's finally his turn to go it's very sudden. He's not really sure what's happening or what he was doing beforehand but he registers the sensation of his consciousness leaving his body and realizes he floating upwards somewhere. He's had a good life, he thinks, as he accepts the weightlessness of it all. That's not to say he never made mistakes or had no regrets, on the contrary he has more than plenty of each. Nonetheless he feels like he lived a life he can be proud of – being a part of saving the world twice is no small feat after all.

As the colours fade from his vision and the world becomes dark he's left wondering if there are things he's left unfinished. He hopes that Suzi will be okay without him, she's quite elderly herself and hasn't been too well recently if he recalls. (It feels like his memory is fading quickly, or is that just his life flashing before his eyes?) Holly and Jotaro will look after her reliably, or at least Holly will, he supposes. His only daughter likely wont take him passing well, but Jotaro's a strong boy. Even though he can fierce and obstinate, deep down he cares about the people in his life. While he may not have been very affectionate, Joseph is sure that Jotaro cared about him too.

The world around him goes near silent and all that's left in his vision in a single shining light above him that seems like a spotlight illuminating the dust in the room. He swears he can almost see the faces of friends and family in that light. There's a smiling boy who looks like Josuke, and a woman beside him who must his mother. As he shuts his eyes he's sure that they'll be fine too and though he's absolutely sure this is the abyss of death he's floating in he can't help but be tempted into taking once last nap.

* * *

It's the last time he awakens in that unfamiliar place, although now it's familiar because he's seem it before. This time Caesar is right there waiting for him, arms open, beckoning for a long overdue loving embrace.

"I missed you" is the first thing that pours off of his lips as they press into sandy coloured hair. "All this time, I've missed you"

"I know" Caesar answers back, his arms wrapping tightly against a familiar waist. "I was watching you the whole time"

Joseph realizes that for all the time that has passed he's somehow exactly the same as he was when they first met. He feels young again, and though he knows he's absolutely 100% dead this time he's never felt so full of life.

"Well I hope I didn't keep you waiting" he says with smirk. He decides to ignore the tears he knows he's shedding with absolute abandon, opting instead to put on a grin so large it feels like it's going to split his cheeks.

"Shut up" Caesar answers, grabbing him by the collar and crashing their lips together and silencing Joseph himself. He can feel Josephs lips melt away from their smile to mold around his own as the hands around face move to cup his cheek and stroke the side of his jaw.

When they pull away, they're both breathless. A pink flush has crept up both of their cheeks and Caesar notes that Joseph looks just as beautiful with his eyes half lidded as he remembers. He can't stay away for long and quickly draws Joseph back for another kiss, softer this time. He lets Joseph slip his tongue through his lips, opting to tangle a free hand with one of Joseph's own.

"Shall we go?" he asks when their lips part a second time. Joseph tilts his head and shoots back a quizzical look.

"Where is there to go?"

Caesar can't help but place a peck on the others cheek, feeling his face relax again as he does so. He reaches forward and takes Josephs remaining hand in his own.

"Follow me" he says, taking a ginger step backwards. As if commanded a halo of light shrouds his entire body, glowing golder than the August sun. Joseph is compelled to follow. Although he's not sure of where exactly they're going, he has the idea that wherever it is, it's likely going to be pleasant.

"There are others," Caesar says, letting go of one hand so he can turn and take up a faster pace. "some of them have been here for a while, but some just got here too."

Joseph can't help but smirk as he takes the lead, breaking out into a full gallop.  
"Well I hope I haven't kept them waiting long either!"

The beam that Caesar shoots at him, nearly stumbling as a fit of laughter takes him, fills Joseph chest with a warmth he isn't sure he's felt since the first time they'd met. It's the last time he meets Caesar Zeppeli and this time he's determined to never leave him again.


End file.
